


Pivot

by Phosphorescent



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Divergence - Battle of Mustafar, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Drama, Friendship/Love, Gen, Temptation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-19 21:33:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14246202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phosphorescent/pseuds/Phosphorescent
Summary: “What would you have me do, Anakin? Just…walk away?”"Or you could join me."





	Pivot

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on TNOF (and all my other WIPs) as we speak, I swear I am! But in the meantime, have this little ficlet, which is _very_ loosely inspired by an older version of the RotS script where Anakin offers to let Obi-Wan walk away "for old times' sake".

**Pivot** (pĭv′ət)

 _n._     

  1. A short rod or shaft on which a related part rotates or swings.
  2. A person or thing on which something depends; the central or crucial factor.
  3. The act of turning on a pivot. 
  4. A dramatic change in policy, position, or strategy.



_— American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition_

 

* * *

 

“Don’t lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the Dark Side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new empire.”

_These are the ravings of a madman._

Obi-Wan stares at him in disbelief as he rises from checking on Padmé’s prone form. 

The words leave his lips before it even occurs to him to check them: “ _Your_  new  _empire_?”

Anakin’s back, as familiar a sight as the Temple itself—the  _Temple_ , oh  _Force…—_ tenses. His head ducks slightly, broad shoulders pulling inwards as he says, 

“Don’t make me kill you.”

His erstwhile padawan’s body language speaks of insecurity—Force, how many times has he seen this kind of behavior from the boy? All that’s missing to complete the picture is for his hands to be drawn up into his sleeves—but his words speak of absolute certainty; of arrogance, even.

How  _can_ this be the same boy he raised? How can this be the same friend at whose side he has fought for over a decade? The proof is before his eyes, yet still he cannot believe.

“Anakin, my allegiance is to the  _Republic—_ to  _democracy_!”

 _Come_ back _, you idiot._

When Anakin speaks, his voice is low and terrible. “If you’re not with me… then you’re my enemy.”

Obi-Wan’s hand moves to his lightsaber without conscious thought.

This is the language of the Sith. He knows his duty…

Only—oh.  _Oh_.

Anakin makes an aborted movement, as though he wants to turn around but can’t quite bring himself to face him yet, perhaps afraid of his reception.

 _As_   _well he should be_.

Anger makes his voice harsh. “What would you have me do, Anakin? Walk away?”

Anakin still doesn’t turn around, but his whole body freezes.

“No,” he says. “ _Run_  away. Find somewhere safe to live out the rest of your days. Maybe a deserted cave on an outer rim planet. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, old man? You can finally meditate to your heart’s content.”

Obi-Wan scoffs. “And just ignore everything that’s happened,  _that’s_  your answer?”

 _Ignore everything that_ you’ve _done?_

“You’ve never had a problem with that before. A good Jedi has no attachments, isn’t that right,  _Master_?”

Anakin inflicts a world of scorn into the title.

A blaster shot would have hurt less.

“Of course, there is another way…” Anakin says, shoulders tensing again.

“Oh?” Obi-Wan prompts, hand still tight on his lightsaber hilt. 

“You could join me,” Anakin says.

…

Obi-Wan shakes his head as though to clear his ears of water.

Surely he misheard…?

Anakin seems to take his silence as encouragement, for he says, “ _Think_ about it, Obi-Wan. Together, we can overthrow the Chancellor and you and I can remake the galaxy as it _ought_ to be—the way we want it to be. No more slavery, no more wars, no more suffering… just peace.”

The utter absurdity of a _Sith apprentice_ claiming to want _peace_ , albeit in the form of despotism, means that it is several moments before the rest of Anakin’s words sink in.

Shock leaves him light-headed.

What is _happening_? One minute, Anakin wants to kill him for some perceived betrayal; the next, he wants their relationship to be as it was before all of this?

One moment, he is swearing his allegiance to Palpatine and the next he talks of killing him?

Anakin has always been temperamental, but this is taking things to a whole new level.

“And here I thought you were utterly devoted to your new Master,” he says at last, voice coming out bitterer than he’d prefer.

“I thought we were friends, but he’s just _using_ me,” Anakin says. “Like the Council was using me. Like they were using _you_.”

Perhaps sensing a weakness, he turns around now and raises his eyes to meet Obi-Wan’s. 

They are red-rimmed and imploring.

“If you ever cared about me at all,” he says, “you would help me now.”

Hope, nearly extinguished, now flickers brighter in his chest.

“Then _let me help you_ ,” Obi-Wan says.

“First,” Anakin says, “You have to prove that you mean it.”

“I hardly—” Obi-Wan begins, only to be cut off.

“No,” Anakin says. A strange light burns in his eyes as he says, “I can’t trust any promises from you, Obi-Wan. Words are wind, and you’re as slippery as an eel. You have to _prove_ it.”

“And how,” he asks, a sinking feeling growing in his gut, “do you expect me to do _that_?”

“Fall,” Anakin says simply.

And here he’d thought there was nothing left that could shock him.

“I _beg_ your pardon.”

“You heard me. Fall.”

“You don’t understand what you’re asking of me, Anakin. You _can’t_ or you would never suggest such a thing.”

“Oh, I think I do.”

 _No_ , Obi-Wan thinks, _you really_ _don’t._

But then, isn’t that Anakin all over again? To demand the impossible, without fully realizing or caring about the cost?

“You are asking me to abandon a _lifetime’s_ worth of teachings. To abandon my duty. My _soul_. You are asking me to invalidate each and every sacrifice _I have ever made_. All for the sake of a man who has betrayed me and destroyed everything I ever held dear. To take an _irrevocable_ step on the off-chance that it will cement a new partnership between the two of us.”

Anakin does not look remotely affected by his speech.

“Yes,” he says.

When Obi-Wan finally finds his voice again, he says, voice low and agonized, “How can you ask this of me?”

“Very easily, my old Master,” Anakin says. “The same way _you_ asked _me_ to betray _my_ principles and spy on a friend. The same way you threw Ahsoka to the Tribunal and expected me to _move on_ afterwards. The same way you could fake your death _in front of me_.”

“I failed you, Anakin, I do not deny it. _We_ failed you. But to ask _this_ … I _cannot_ … What _good_ does it do, except to prove to you that which you already know—that I am far from infallible?”

“It proves,” Anakin growls, “that you are serious. That you care about me more than you do your, your Jedi _self_ - _righteousness_.”

"This isn't about some sort of self-righteousness! And if you ever paid attention to _anything_ we taught you, you should know that."

"It sounds like typical Jedi self-righteousness to me. What is it you always said? 'Do not _descend_ to their level, Padawan'? 'Only the _weak_ embrace the Dark Side'?' Well, I've learned better. The Dark Side is where true strength lies. Enough strength to remake the galaxy as I want it… even enough strength to _stop death_!"

"Is  _that_ what this is about? Anakin,  _no_ power has the ability to stop or reverse death… not without twisting the life form into something malformed and unnatural. The will of the Force cannot be so easily gainsaid."

"That's where you and I disagree, my old Master. You know nothing of the power of the Dark Side."

"Perhaps not. But I know that any person worth saving would not want you to pay the cost of it."

Anakin bares his teeth, eyes flashing with a terrible amber gleam.

"You know  _nothing_!" he spits, then abruptly falls silent, chest heaving with emotion.

For a few tense moments, the only sounds around them are the crackle of the lava and his own ragged breathing. 

When Anakin composes himself enough to speak again, Obi-Wan half-wishes he hadn't.

"Enough of this, Obi-Wan," he says. "No more stalling. Join me now, or prove yourself a traitor like all the rest of them."

The world is aflame, spinning around him; upside down, as it has been ever since he saw Anakin in the security holograms. Ever since his troops attacked him on Utapau. Ever since the Jedi entered an unwinnable war in the first place.

He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, and speaks one word—

And then the world explodes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So does Obi-Wan accept Anakin's offer? Is the word "Fine", "No", or something else altogether? It's up to you. ;-)  
> Personally, I find Obi-Wan Falling under these circumstances to be improbable, but not entirely outside the realm of possibility.
> 
> (And in case you were wondering, Obi-Wan's vaguely ableist language re: the Dark Side in this ficlet is 100% intentional. I love the character, but he has an established pattern of doing this with varying degrees of subtlety in canon.)


End file.
